Education through entertainment

Performer Frannie Sheridan's one-woman show "The H-Word" is a multicultural collection of true stories from second and third generation survivors of the Holocaust and other acts of global genocide. It contains elements of history, hope, humor and humanism.

Sheridan, a West Palm Beach resident who wrote the show, will perform it on April 20 at 9 p.m. at Next@19th, a Jewish cultural center located on 137 NE 19th St. in Miami. She will use rhythm poetry in the show.

"I'm honored to do this show," Sheridan said. "I feel that I have a responsibility to immortalize these stories because the survivors are passing on."

Sheridan, whose parents narrowly escaped the Nazis during World War II, said she hopes the show will lift any feelings of an elitist mentality that survivors of other genocides and victims of racism and bigotry have on the Holocaust.

"The Holocaust was absolutely the worst case of genocide known to the world as far as I'm concerned and we have the biggest numbers of victims during the Shoah but my prayer for this show is to change the way in how we are looking at the Holocaust," she added. "I'm not diminishing the Holocaust, but survivors of other genocides have been told that their suffering isn't as important as ours and I think that has to stop, because all survivors [of every genocide] are connected."

Jenni Person, executive director of Next@19th, said the cultural center is proud to be supporting new work in Jewish culture as always.

"We are especially glad to be working with Frannie on "The H-Word" because the issue of the second and third generation families of survivors is such an important yet largely un-addressed issue," Person added. "We're very glad to be having that conversation here with the presentation of this show."

Helen Chaset, a member of a group of second-generation children of Holocaust survivors in Miami-Dade County, said she is very much looking forward to seeing the show performed.

"My parents and other Holocaust survivors have spent the last few years speaking about the horrors of genocide and the importance of treating our fellow man with respect," Chaset added. "When they can no longer tell the story and when our second and third generations are no longer around to share this message, having works of art that are timeless will be the only way we keep this message alive. We need these plays and other works of literature, paintings, music, film and video that depict the value of human life to ensure that genocide is not repeated."

Tickets for the show are $25 for general admission and $20 for students, seniors and artists. To purchase tickets, visit brownpapertickets.com or call 800-838-3006. For more information on Sheridan, visit http://franniesheridan.com/.